Going kicking and screaming into the next decade!

Day 94: Looking for love in all the wrong places

I got a text today from one of my new wine pals, Frenchie was staying in town for a few extra days and wanted to see if I was free for dinner.

I agreed, reluctantly of course because somewhere deep down I knew it would end up being more than just dinner and I’m exhausted and need to just relax.

I swung by her hotel and then we hit the restaurant for dinner. We sat down at the bar and grabbed a drink while we waited for our table and that’s when she dropped the bomb.

‘I have a friend who lives here, I invited him to join us after dinner, and he’s bringing a friend. That’s ok right?’ she said.

‘Of course it is.’ I replied thinking you never know when your going to meet someone.

Although I am marred by a cold sore, perfect timing. There is never a good time to have one, but I thought if I had to choose a time, Valentine’s Day without a guy in my life had pretty good odds because every single man in America is running for the hills this time of year.

As dinner progressed, I realized Frenchie’s friend was a hockey player and he was bringing several friends.

How do I get myself into these situations? Not that it was a bad situation to be in, sometimes I just can’t believe a small town girl from middle America is actually doing the things I’ve been lucky enough to experience in the first 39 years of my life. Definitely a ‘pinch me’ moment.

We met up with them a little later and they all seemed very nice and down to earth.

I hit it off with one of them, even though I tried really hard not to because he has the 4 letter name I have spent the better part of my adult life avoiding. Actually I should probably say the better part of my adult life dating, since there have been about 6 in my dating history.

I told him every man I’ve bet with that name has been a jerk, and he assured me he was not like them. I laughed and said ‘it’s funny how they all say that!’

It’s actually a pretty good ploy to get them to straighten up their act, but the problem is it doesn’t work for very long. They always go back to their old ways.

There were several red flags throughout the evening, but for some reason the challenge seemed greater than the neon signs flashing in front of my face.

‘Why do girls put such a big emphasis on Valentine’s Day?’ ‘How old are you?’… two biggies right there in front of me, and yet I motored on.

At one point he tried to convince me his name was Dirk, and I have to admit I got a little excited for a brief moment in time. Then he told me he was lying… surprise… jackass.

By the time the night was over, he was trying to steal a kiss, and I had to tell him it wasn’t going to happen because of the cold sore. A total bummer but we exchanged numbers and went our separate ways.